THE SCENTED GROOMER - Aromatherapy for Pet Groomers

The Scented Groomer is a line of aromatherapy products blended for pets and people, especially for use in the professional pet grooming salon. They can be used in the home as well. The oils are complimentary across the species - what works to calm pets will also be calming for humans, etc. The blends have been formulated by an experienced holistic pet groomer (yours truly, the Birdie Blogger, BBird) and used with excellent results in an actual grooming salon (Transformation Pet Center, Tucson AZ). All blends have been formulated for fragrance value as well as therapeutic effect. They are:

22-Dog Day:
Twenty two dogs may not be overwhelming in your situation, but in ours, it is a formula for crisis. This is a calming blend, meant to be used when the day is getting out of hand, or when you have that anxious feeling that you might not make it to the end of the day in one piece. This blend is also great for the waiting room, calming and balancing clients while making a distinct "signature" fragrance for your premises.
Contents: Bergamot, Lime, Vetiver

DR. DeFrazzle:
The doctor is in! Great for frazzled nerves, this blend helps to restore balance and lift the spirits. It is both mildly calming and uplifting, with a haunting bass note of nutmeg. This is my personal favorite!
Contents: Bergamot, Nutmeg, Grapefruit, Lemon

Let's Groom!
An energizing blend to help you start the day or come down the home stretch. Also helps with focus. Contains lemon, which has been shown to reduce errors in the workplace.
Contents: Lemon, Lime, Nutmeg, Peppermint, Clary Sage

Mellow Pet:
Designed especially to calm dogs, this is excellent for calming groomers and pet owners as well. A great overall premises aromatherapy choice, or put a few drops on a piece of paper towel and attach to a specific kennel to help settle a distraught guest.
Contents: Lavender, Sweet Orange, Vetiver, Clary Sage, Marjoram

Healthy Shop:
The oils in this blend have been selected for their antiseptic, antibacterial, antiviral and purifying properties. Helps to protect the environment from airborne disease and smells great too. A must for the flu season. Contains Ravensare, the most potent antiviral oil available.
Contents: Lemon, Lavender, Bergamot, Geranium, Eucalyptus, Ravensare


Burnout Band-Aid:
One of our two newest blends, this is a blend of oils for coping with stress and lifting depression. I developed this one especially for myself and I find the fragrance exquisite.
Contents: Ylang Ylang, Sweet Orange, Clary Sage & Bergamot

Home Alone:
Our second new blend, this is designed especially to combat separation anxiety and compliments our Mellow Pet. The two could be used together for a double whammy! Home Alone could be used to combat human anxiety such as in competition grooming or anxiety in pleasing a customer with a breed new to you.
Contents: Geranium, Petitgrain, Ylang Ylang, Basil, Lavender

HOW TO BUY SCENTED GROOMER OILS
Oils can be purchased from BBird by email to petpals@dakotacom.net. The oils come in 10ml (1/3 oz.) cobalt blue bottles for $7 each. A set of five oils of your choice is available for $30. Shipping and handling charge is $5 per order. Mellow Pet and Healthy Shop blends are available in a larger, 30ml size for $15.

1 ml Samples of the oils are available with an order.

TIPS ON USING THE OILS
Diffusing the Oils - although the most serious aromatherapists use only glass nebulizers that atomize the essential oil into micro-fine droplets which are then sprayed into the environment to diffuse oils, these devices are made of small glass parts which may not be safe in the grooming environment. Also they use LOTS of oil and make noise. They do, however, put maximum fragrance into the air immediately. Another form of diffusion that may not be safe around animals is the candle burning heat diffusers. There are heated ceramic dishes that are more safe. Fan diffusers which use absorbent paper and push the fragrant air out with various size fans work well in the grooming shop. Absorbent paper diffusers are easy to use for personal use and most simply you can put a few drops on a piece of paper towel and clamp it on your grooming post.

Diff'rent Strokes for Diff'rent Folks - Not everyone reacts the same to a given oil or blend. Although the effects of essential oils have been generalized down the ages, there are always individuals for whom some oils do not have the expected result. Trust your instincts. If you don't find a calming blend especially calming for you, that is true for you. Some oils give some people headaches and cure headaches for others. Be considerate of your work-mates, fragrance likes and dislikes are very personal.

Care of the Animals - Animals are notoriously more sensitive to odor than humans, so they are also more sensitive to aromatherapy. A little dab'll do ya'! You do not need to use copious amounts of essential oils around animals, nor should you. Please do not operate on the premise that "if a little is good, a LOT is better." Just use a little, and later, use a little more. We do not recommend using our oils directly on the animal undiluted, nor placing the oils in a closed space (crate) with the animal. Place a few drops on a paper towel near the animal and check out the response. If a dog burrows his head in the back of the crate, perhaps he is telling you the oils is too powerful. All of our oils can be diluted with common carrier oils such as almond oil, grapefruit seed oil, jojoba oil, etc for safe applications directly to the dog. Use 5-10 drops blend to 1/2 oz of carrier oil.

CATS are special - The safety of aromatherapy and felines is controversial. Essential oils are very complex chemicals, and there is some concern that the feline liver of some cats cannot effectively detoxify essential oils. This is less likely to be an issue for client kitties than with shop or home coats. Our Mellow Pet blend is considered safe of occasional use around felines during grooming.

Other Precautions - Some of the oils we have used are best avoided if pregnant, including Clary Sage and Nutmeg. Trust your instincts in knowing what is good for YOU.